As teacher quality becomes a central issue in discussions of children's literacy, both researchers and policy makers alike express increasing concern with how teachers structure and allocate their lesson time for literacy-related activities as well as with what they know about reading development, processes, and pedagogy. The authors examined the…

Describes first-grade children who completed a battery of tasks that included standardized measures of word recognition and spelling, measures of phonological and orthographic processing skills, and a short indicator of exposure to print via home literacy experiences. Finds that phonological and orthographic processing skills are separable…

The spelling performance of 22 male and 26 female first graders using a simultaneous oral spelling method was compared when students were writing the words, spelling them with letter tiles, or typing them on a computer keyboard. Results of two experiments indicate the superiority of handwriting in improving spelling acquisition. (SLD)

The construct validity of a new measure of children's exposure to print, the Title Recognition Test (TRT), was assessed with 34 fourth, 33 fifth, and 67 sixth graders. The TRT demonstrated significant correlations with spelling, vocabulary, verbal fluency, word knowledge, and general information. (SLD)

A study of 51 third and 47 fourth graders using a new measure of exposure to print, the Title Recognition Test, established that orthographic processing ability can account for variance in word recognition skill after variance resulting from phonological processing is removed. The importance of print exposure is discussed. (SLD)

Studied whether individual differences in print exposure and exposure to other media can account for individual differences in acquired declarative knowledge, controlling for confounds between experience and ability. Results with 268 undergraduates (90 males and 178 females) suggest that exposure is a significant contributor to knowledge…

Reports on research studies into the role that reading volume plays in shaping the mind. It is possible to outline the reciprocal influence of early reading acquisition and reading volume as determinants of later reading comprehension and other cognitive abilities. Early success at reading unlocks a lifetime of reading habits, as research shows.…

Studied reading comprehension, vocabulary, general knowledge, and print exposure of 11th graders who completed reading battery 10 years earlier. Found that first-grade reading ability predicted all 11th-grade outcomes--even when cognitive ability was partialed out--and was linked to print exposure, even after 11th-grade reading comprehension…

Focuses on the issue of convergent and predictive validity of measures using a broader range of orthographic tasks than previously examined. Finds that a measure of print exposure predicted variance in orthographic processing after the variance in phonological processing had been partialed out. (SG)

Assessed the degree of orthographic learning in homophonic choice, spelling, and target naming tasks with second graders. Found that processing of target homophones was superior to that of their homophonic controls and found a substantial correlation between orthographic learning and number of target homophones correctly decoded during story…

Recently, investigators have begun to pay increasing attention to the role of teachers' domain-specific knowledge in the area of reading, and its implications for both classroom practice and student learning. The aims of the present study were to assess kindergarten to third grade teachers' actual and perceived reading related subject matter…